M80 Stiletto

Twin M hulled (the body of the craft below the outer deck) for greater stability, 24 m (80 ft.) long with a 12 m (40 ft.) beam, M Ship’s M80 Stiletto provides a rectangular deck area equivalent to a conventional displacement craft (which derive their lift from buoyancy [displacement]), twice the Stilleto’s length. The vessel’s draft (its keel below the water line) fully loaded is ~1 m (3 ft.) and is designed for a speed of 50-60 kts (knots; ~93-111 kph / 58-69 mph). Its superior performance is based on M Ship Co.’s proprietary, globally patented technology, recapturing the bow wave (the wave that forms immediately before the bow or front of the vessel) using its energy to create an air cushion for greater efficiency.

M Ship Co.’s vessel is the largest vessel ever built in the U.S. solely of carbon fiber, for reduced weight and increased stiffness. It will be delivered to the U.S. military Office of Force Transformation to establish scalability of the M hull technology and is the prototype of a family of vessels to qualify for the full range of missions contemplated for operations in littoral zones (i.e., military combat in and near shallow water depths). These will offer significant advantages over conventional displacement crafts or planning crafts (with a shallower draft that plane for a faster, less stable ride), based on the U.S. military’s new littoral missions where efficiency, low cost, innovation, higher payload fraction, agility, shock mitigation, shallow draft, and stealth are the new priorities for the next generation naval craft.

Iddo has a B.A. in Philosophy and Cognitive Science and an M.A. in Philosophy of Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is currently writing his Ph.D. thesis on the relationship between the scientific community and industry. Iddo was awarded the 2006 Bar Hillel philosophy of science prize for his work on the relationship between science and technology. He is a member of the board of the lifeboat foundation and was the editor of several high-profile science and technology websites since 1999.